America's Top 10 Unhappiest Cities

[juliaN.]

http://realestate.msn.com//slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=18184152&GT1=35000

Number 1 doesn't come as a surprise, I think Detroit should be 2nd, am surprised at the inclusion of New Orleans, although given the modern context perhaps not so, Las Vegas proves that the writer of this list has a wry sense of humor, not to mention a very insightful eye. Atlanta, only drove through there once in December 2006, it was a cloudy day and did strike me as pretty bleak, would not go again.

Gary, Indiana should be on this list. Take off St. Louis and put Gary.

Discuss.

[julianREE]

this is interesting, but i'm wondering how recent this list is.

i've heard from one source (my econ professor) that if they calculated everything presently using a misery index that fresno or stockton would be number one because of the huge number of foreclosures and unemployment. (california is leading with close to 9.6 percent?)

he also said las vegas passed fresno as the leader in foreclosures just this week, so it would be even more interesting to calculate it presently.

[juliaN.]

oh yeah, btw the photos used are a brilliant stroke of irony. wonder if it was intentional or not

the guys at MSN must have been having a field day when compiling this shit

[nickthechibi]

there's a couple (Fresno-nians?) on this board.. they seem pretty unhappy in their place

where is your input? how often do you have thoughts of suicide?

[juliaN.]

you askin me or him? i've seen julianREE put down some suicidal-ish thoughts on the board here and there, but i also saw a photo of him posing across the Landmark Louis Vuitton in Central in a pretty jolly looking mood, i dunno

i think about the issue of mortality quite often, as for my own suicide, never. pussy way to go out

[julianREE]

i'm not really suicidal, just the whole thought crosses my mind.

but i wouldn't be surprised if people living in the fresno area are having increases in thoughts of suicide. they're losing their homes, their jobs, basically everything American's hinge on "happiness" because of this financial mess.

of course they're pretty dumb themselves for taking out such huge loans with their houses as collateral.. so whatever the world keeps goin' round.

[julzkind]

proof cleveland does not rock.

fuck you drew carey.

[dismalfuture]

St. Louis = dark as hell, terrible weather that changes extremes day by day, long drawn out dry winters, and no nightlife. Bars in strip malls. Some ok things in St. Louis, but not worth going for.

[juliaN.]

hey dismal you grew up in St Louis?

i never really thought of it as a dark and bleak place until that list highlighted it

but shit, that could go for most of the midwest.

washington dc is a pretty depressing city...politics aside, went there for grade 10 school trip. the weather didn't help, all the malls and shit we went to seemed dead

[longrun]

I didn't know Portland was that bad. It seemed alright when I was there, but I guess that was ten years ago.

[juliaN.]

i figured it would have been worse 10 years ago

anyway it's hard to get a glimpse of the true state of a place until you live there or extended stay. most people who come to hong kong for about a week or two leave with that postcard image in their memories

stay long enough and you realize it's mentally vacant

[longrun]

very true.

i guess i was also probably eleven and couldn't get a good sense of things.

[the_state]

wtf - i thought portland was a cool place to live.

[sawyer]

Been to St. Louis once in my life. More bars in Milwaukee.

[goat]

I didn't know St. Louis had the highest crime rate.

LV with the highest suicide rate doesn't surprise me at all

[mrchariybrown]

atlanta ranks 2nd in crime?

I think I'm taking a road trip to atlanta this saturday-wednesday.

I hope I don't get shot in atlanta.

not that worried, since I haven't been shot in philly yet.

[the_state]

one of my coworkers just got jumped in ATL this weekend by a bunch of dudes... this guy's big too, played secondary in D1 college football. craze

[ROYALEFATALE]

atlanta ranks 2nd in crime?

I think I'm taking a road trip to atlanta this saturday-wednesday.

I hope I don't get shot in atlanta.

not that worried, since I haven't been shot in philly yet.

you stay out of north philly i'm guessing?

[Mr Waffles]

I dont think New Orleans should be fourth. I think Atlanta should be higher up; that place is depressing and the traffic there is terrible.

what about that place in alabama with all the gang violence. had an hbo special there or something?

[Bona Drag]

list is fucking ghey; let me guess, the 'happiest' places have good schools, manicured lawns, high rates of church attendance, homeownership, etc

fuck that

i'll take nola any day

[Gouf]

the comments are the best part of the whole article.

i know a girl from oregon, she said people are mad racist up there

[into the rain]

how is hartford, connecticut not on the list?

[stayhandsome]

you guys have no idea how bad detroit is.

recently some urban explorers were playing ice hockey in the basement of an abandoned warehouse downtown and saw a dead guy halfway frozen under ice. he was not reported for two weeks and when he was reported it took two days for a fireman to come and verify. when a homeless man was asked about the situation he said "i did not recognize him by his shoes".

1 in 50 are homeless in detroit and i swear nobody in portland is afraid to pump gas like in detroit cos that's the number one way to get mugged. stick up kids running through your backyard. the city burning on devils night (night before halloween). shits just crazy. racist in oregon? try being white in detroit. my grandparents were tied up and left in a closet as their house god raided during the race riots. place has never recovered.

if your jeans even come close to fitting you will be clowned in public in a very scary way. i'd love to see some of ya'll slang talking college kids hang on the corners i used to live on.

i worked in a mall in detroit and a dude was stabbed with a screwdriver in the enterance of my store.

i jumped at the first chance i had to leave the city. that's how i ended up in boring chicago.

[roflobster]

atlanta is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mrchariybrown]

you stay out of north philly i'm guessing?

born and raised in north philly, then moved to northeast philly but still went to high school in north philly.

but yes, nowadays, I don't even take a step to that neighborhood. gross.

[malaesthetique]

i figured it would have been worse 10 years ago

anyway it's hard to get a glimpse of the true state of a place until you live there or extended stay. most people who come to hong kong for about a week or two leave with that postcard image in their memories

stay long enough and you realize it's mentally vacant

Same can be said of Honolulu--mentally vacant, but also culturally vapid. Hong Kong seems like it would be large and organized enough to have an interesting underbelly of culture to indulge in. None of that out here. There are no quality clubs or art galleries, and if you display the least bit of criticism you will be hated and ostracized by the ruling faction. also the cost of living is exorbitant, on par with SF, LA, and NY. I'm currently plotting my escape....

You won't find happiness here unless you uncritically enjoy bob marley, smoking dope, lounging on the beach all day, and greasy plate lunches. Many women here are of mixed blood and amazingly beautiful, but they are hard to impress because the value system here is so fucked up.

Not a happy place, but at least its not as perilous as Detroit....

[Bona Drag]

how else would you do it? you can't really quantify this shit anyway, they're just trying to make catchy headlines

[kunk75]

atlanta should be higher, ditto detroit.

surprised about portland; i quite like it.

[Bona Drag]

you guys have no idea how bad detroit is.

you have no idea how bad new orleans is

our murder rate is almost 50% higher than the nearest us city (can't remember if it's baltimore, detroit or the lou)

seriously, on some slums of rio type shit

the only reason we haven't been number one for the past decade is that they stopped reporting figures for a few years after the storm

n!gg@z get shot for any reason, anywhere, any time - card games, arguments at a fucking bowling alley, mardi gras parades, 11 in the morning on a bright sunny day

a fucking 14 year old just got charged with murdering an unarmed bartender as she was getting off work on one of the busiest streets in the quarter - no rape, no robbery, just shot her

people in the worst neighborhoods here can tell the difference between tec 9, mac 10 and ak fire by the sound - i know because i've asked plenty of them about it as part of my job

we have the highest incarceration, prison death, and public corruption rates in the country

on the other hand, the weather and titty bars are nice and you can drink outside

yall should come visit - get @ me

[roflobster]

atlanta isn't even bad. only bad if you live downtown, and no one does